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| Iran says British embassy staff to go on trial | |
| 2009-07-04 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Iran said on Friday that some local British embassy staff arrested for allegedly playing a role in post-election violence will be put on trial as the European Union said it was seeking ways to object to Iran's crackdown on opposition. The head of Iran's powerful Guardians Council, Ahmad Jannati, said embassy staff have "made confessions" and said "in these incidents, their embassy had a presence, some people were arrested. Naturally they will be put on trial."
"We are concerned and we are checking the reports," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. "Allegations that our staff were fomenting unrest are wholly without foundation." "We will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Iranians." According to the British government, seven of nine local staff originally detained by the Iranian authorities have now been released. Iran accused the embassy employees of instigating riots in the unrest that erupted over the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which was ratified on Monday by the Guardians Council. Britain has rejected the allegations as baseless and demanded the immediate release of the staff still in detention. In his first speech since the unrest began, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed Britain as the "most evil" or the Islamic Republic's enemies, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown said was "unfortunate" as tension between the two nations rose. | |
| Posted by:Fred |